There’s a delicate balance in sports between remaining alert and on top of your game, yet staying loose – or, as they put it in hockey, not gripping the stick too tight. One member of the 1989 Stanley Cup-winning Calgary Flames turned on the movie Slap Shot before a crucial Game 7 and got the whole team laughing, chronicles Ross Bernstein in Raising Stanley. The 1993 Cup-winning Montreal Canadiens used their coach’s imperfect English as an endearing joke that kept the team light-hearted. Continue reading →